Small wedding tips

[DrCindyPops]

Sorry if there's another thread like this i couldn't see one, but going by some other threads a lot of us getting married in the summer are now going to have small weddings.

Anyone any tips for anything that made their smaller wedding really special?
Anything to think about having, times of things, things to do etc?

Following

My brother got married in October. They were allowed 15 at the ceremony and had less than 30 for a meal afterwards. They had some music in the bar afterwards, but no dancing and masks had to be worn at all times (except eating and drinking, and we took them off for the socially distanced photos).

One lovely thing was that we were able to use Zoom to broadcast the wedding meaning that lots of people unable to come were still able to be part of the day - some even dressed up for the occasion!

Smaller groups were done for photos.

We got married in October. There were 15 of us for both ceremony and the meal after (this was the number we had always intended to have). We had the whole thing at the same country house venue and we were all seated at three separate tables for the meal after. Because it was a small event we were really able to push the boat out with the food, wine and gifts for guests so that made it feel special.

One photography tip for you and something I didn't even consider with the seating plan. Seat couples next to each other and not opposite so that the photos that are taken are of couples and not two friends side by side, if that makes sense !

Have a special meal rather than a reception, we had just 6 at my wedding and we went to a celebrity chefs restaurant who were lovely - didn't book it as a wedding but when they realised they gave us champagne cocktails on the house and found sparklers to put in each dessert and the head chef (not the celebrity he wasn't on site that day) insisted on having his photo with us. They also brought a special meal for dd who was a baby saying they couldn't have me feed her jarred food, puréed for her.

You can make it special because it is special, you are promising that you will be together for ever. You don't need lots of guests the vows are what counts

Love the idea of a special meal.
We were thinking this instead of paying lots for a band would it be nicer just to spend the money on more food and drinks for the guests etc!

I had a small wedding by choice as I just find them to be more intimate (35 of us all together). Of course this is by no means intended as a disrespect to anyone who is planning a big wedding, just our personal preference.

We were able to include all of our guest in the photo shoot and had an amazing time sharing the wedding breakfast as one large table and due to the small numbers, we could afford for everyone having a free bar all night. We danced till 3am and stayed in the same hotel, spending the next day together too. It was perfect, few years on we still look back at it so fondly!

OP, I'm not certain but I think you have to count those you are employing services of for your wedding in the number of allowable guests. So if, like in October, you were allowed 15 guests but you wanted a photographer that would mean you only had 14 spaces for family and friends. If this is the case you might want to think carefully about having a band.

We got married in October and the number 15 included us but excluded the two registrars and photographer.

Sorry yes the band is included in the number, our band are bookable from anywhere from 2-7 people so that will depend on the numbers

It's so frustrating, also frustrating in Scotland that the kids are included in the wedding numbers but not in the restrictions in everyday life in the tiers like 6 people outside etc!

It's so frustrating, also frustrating in Scotland that the kids are included in the wedding numbers but not in the restrictions in everyday life in the tiers like 6 people outside etc

I'd find that annoying too

To clarify, for anyone in England the rules were changed and wedding suppliers are not included in your guest numbers. So if your max numbers are 15, that's 15 guests PLUS your suppliers. Unless they change things again of course, which wouldn't surprise me!

In terms of making things special, we had 14 people total at our wedding including us. With the money saved by having a smaller guest list we spent more per head on food and drink to ensure there were big portions, lots to go around. Lots of things to nibble on and pick at all day. Lots of canapés and drinks that we knew people liked.

We opted for a dessert table too and included many of our guests favourites from places like the English Cheesecake company, Patisserie Valerie and so on.

We also had "goody bags" for each guest as everyone was staying overnight. These included posh toiletries and personalised thank you for coming notes.

Another thing we had was an "oh shit kit" which included lots of little things people may have forgotten to bring or needed- deodorant, plasters, suncream, paracetemol, breath mints and that kind of thing.

We also had blankets for the evening when things got chilly.

We chose to have a later ceremony too (4pm, with sunset at approx 7pm) so there was no rush in the morning to be ready early. The day didn't drag as there were not countless hours to fill with limited numbers.